Press Releases

“Maintaining and creating new market access is vital to Iowa farmers.”

Dec042018

WASHINGTON – Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), today, released the following statement with regard to the ongoing trade negotiations between the United States and China, following President Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G20 Summit in Argentina:

“Maintaining and creating new market access is vital to Iowa farmers. I hear from many Iowans about the importance of standing up to China’s unfair trade practices, and making progress on rebalancing the trade imbalance between our two countries. While we are still waiting for more specifics, new purchases of agricultural products will help Iowa farmers and manufacturers.”

Background:

During the G20 Summit in Argentina November 30-December 1, President Trump and President Xi Jinping discussed the ongoing trade negotiations with China. The U.S. agreed to delay tariff increases on $200 billion of Chinese goods, which were scheduled to rise from 10 percent to 25 percent on January 1. China now has 90 days to work with the U.S. to strike a deal on an array of issues, including: the large trade imbalance between the two countries, intellectual property concerns and forced technology transfers.

According to President Trump, China has agreed to purchase more U.S. products, including “a very substantial amount of agriculture, energy, industrial and other products from the U.S. to reduce the trade imbalance.”